This disclosure relates to a patient support apparatus having a manual brake for braking one or more of the wheels of the patient support apparatus. More disclosure relates patient support apparatuses having four wheels or casters attached to the base frame for rolling the apparatus from location to location and a braking mechanism for activating brakes on all four wheels simultaneously.
Patient support apparatuses such as hospital beds are moved from location to location. Casters which support the hospital bed allow the bed to be rolled and steered between locations. During movement it is desirable to have free rolling wheels but upon reaching the desired location, brakes are usually applied to the wheels to maintain the bed at the desired location.
It is well known to provide hospital beds with brake/steer casters which include mechanisms for blocking the rotation of the caster wheel or wheels, i.e. braking mechanisms, and mechanisms for blocking swiveling movement of the caster wheel fork, i.e. anti-swivel or directional lock mechanisms. Some beds with four castered wheels include pedals located on opposite sides of the bed which control the braking and anti-swivel mechanisms in each caster. An example of such a bed is shown in Rudolf et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,372 which is expressly incorporated by reference herein. The pedals in Rudolf et al. may not be readily accessible by a caregiver who is currently pushing the bed. Another approach is shown in Mobley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,878 which is expressly incorporated by reference herein. The pedals adjacent the head end of base in Mobley et al. both provide the same actuation in the same direction. In other words, if one can only achieve a single function by stepping on the pedal(s). To reverse the function from the head end, the pedal(s) must be lifted.
Other hospital beds equipped with such brake/steer casters include four separate brake and/or steer pedals each associated with only one of the four casters with each brake pedal only engaging the brake on the caster with which it is associated and each steer pedal only actuating the anti-swivel mechanism on the caster with which it is associated. One such hospital beds having four casters with four unconnected brake mechanisms, prior to movement of the bed the caregiver must disengage all four brakes by operating all four pedals and after movement of the bed engage all four brakes by again operating all four pedals.